Ysoscher Katz argues that elements of ḥasidic spirituality could help to enhance and revive Modern Orthodoxy, precisely because they are rooted in lived religious experience rather than rationalist claims about theological truth—about which modern Jews are apt to be skeptical. Katz takes as a model the spirituality of his father, a member of the Satmar sect:

My father . . . does not study Ḥasidism, nor does he want to understand it. . . . Ḥasidism is what he does, not what he studies. From his perspective, Torah is for study, Ḥasidism for practicing. . . . He stays away from traditional kabbalistic or ḥasidic texts. . . . He is so intimidated by their sacredness that he fears that his [very] touch would contaminate them. Yet, despite never having formally studied ḥasidic texts, he still is the quintessential Ḥasid. . . . Ḥasidism is how he lives his life. It is the prism through which he encounters the world and the ethos by which he lives.

He adores his wife, loves his children, cherishes his community, and reveres and respects his neighbors and fellow human beings, Jew and non-Jew alike. While there is nothing special about these emotions—many people love their family and surroundings—their flavor is unique. [His love] is ḥasidic love, deriving its passion from the ḥasidic teachings he has absorbed throughout his life. These teachings have filled his being with a deep religiosity, which, in turn, infuses his actions and emotions with a deep and robust spirituality.

Two extraordinary events demonstrate something important about Israel’s most fervent adversaries. One was a speech given at something called The People’s Forum (funded generously by Goldman Sachs), which stated, “When the state of Israel is finally destroyed and erased from history, that will be the single most important blow we can give to destroying capitalism and imperialism.”

The suggestion that this tiny state is the linchpin of a global, centuries-old phenomenon like capitalism goes well beyond anything resembling rational criticism. Even if Israel were guilty of genocide, apartheid, and oppression—which of course it is not—it would not follow that its destruction would help end capitalism or imperialism.

The other was an anti-Israel protest that took place in front of New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, deemed “complicit” in Israel’s evils. At organizers’ urging, participants shouted their slogans at kids in the cancer ward, who were watching from the windows. Given Hamas’s indifference toward the lives of Gazan children, such callousness toward non-Palestinian children from Hamas’s Western allies shouldn’t be surprising. The protest—like the abovementioned speech—deliberately conveyed the message that Israel is the ultimate evil and its destruction the ultimate good, cancer patients be damned.

The fact that Israel’s adversaries are almost comically perverse does not mean that they can be dismissed. If its allies fail to understand the obsessive and irrational hatred that it faces, they cannot effectively help it defend itself.